I am a big fan of keeping life simple. But I am also very bad at it. Take Chloe’s bake sale for example. Last year she was determined to have a pop-up snack stand in the first week of the holidays, to raise money for Open Airways and the SPCA.

Everyone loves Liz Boden [co-founder of Open Airways] so that one was a no-brainer.

Chloe’s concern for the SPCA arose when I let her watch a “safe” video on YouTube from the World Wildlife Fund. But although there were lots of amazing facts about tigers, the video drifted into tiger poaching and showed images of tiger body parts for sale in local markets. Parenting fail. Big time.

Chloe marched upstairs, got her piggy bank and demanded we adopt a tiger immediately. So we fell for the WWF marketing hook, line and sinker. But I was also proud.

Since then, she has decided she wants to be a vet and help the SPCA every summer.

As much as I love the SPCA, I did try to talk her out of another weeklong bake sale. By the time we were done last year, we had baked more than a thousand items. Non-stop kitchen antics for a week!

There were tears at one point (mine) and a fair amount of wine. I am not sure I baked anything else until September.

But, our first born is nothing but determined and it is impossible to repress that entrepreneurial spirit.

So off we go again, this time with a “Snack Attack” theme — the idea being that you book a Snack Attack (a surprise delivery of healthy goodies) for friends, family or co-workers.

The genius part of this plan is that we don’t cook every day. We’ll cook on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday and deliver Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Surely there’s time for a dip in the ocean there somewhere?

It does mean I’ll be skipping this column next week though. We’ll be elbow-deep in cookie mix and banana bread instead. We’re not taking any more orders now but if you want to keep up with the madness, check in on Facebook to see what we are up to.

The idea of Snack Attack was to keep things simple. Except that I thought it would be cool to have a website. So I built her a basic format and she filled it all in. Then it meant spreadsheets and proper maths to figure out what we had to do and when, and how many ingredients we needed.

It’s simpler in some ways and in others, it has literally boggled my brain. Still, her face when she flipped through the order file was priceless.

It’s exciting to witness your child’s excitement, isn’t it? Particularly when you find yourself saying “no” a lot in life. This project has all been about saying yes. Yes we can do it again. Yes you can have a website. Yes you can type it in pink (even though it will look better in black). Yes you can cover all the packaging in stickers. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

But as crazy as next week will be, and as complicated as it will get, and although there is bound to be a last-minute panic about an Island-wide shortage of ripe bananas or something else that feels end-of-the-world-ish, I will also get an amazing dose of one-to-one time with my big girl.

With Chloe at seven and Belle nearly five, they have become some of my favourite people to hang out with (despite the squabbles).

When they fight with me, they teach me the best lesson — the art of letting go. Not something they picked up from Frozen, but the simple skill of getting really angry and annoyed about something, and then seemingly not caring about it 20 minutes later.

Whether they fight with each other or with me, they have absolutely no reservations about making up afterwards. We had a bit of a frantic dinner and bedtime tonight and I was not the kindest person, but still they put their arms around me and told me they loved me.

“Really?” I asked, thinking, ‘Are you mad?’. They looked at me and rolled their eyes, implying, ‘Duh mummy, obviously we love you. Why would we not? It was just a row. Let it go’.”

Let. It. Go. Simplify. Breathe. Perhaps the three mantras I will need over the summer. And something to apply to my nutrition, too.

I have files of amazingly delicious recipes I want to make but, to be honest, few will get done. I have to let those go.

Instead of seeing that as a failure, I need to see it as an opportunity to simplify our lives and our food. Because we really don’t need a long list of ingredients for delicious, healthy food. Sometimes it’s as simple as hitting on that magic equation for taste sensation: sugar, salt and fat.

Not in the sense that the fast food industry knows it but in the sense that we in the whole food industry know it.

Next time you are trying to create something simple, healthy and tasty, go back to the essence of taste sensation.

Find something a little sweet, a little salty and something with a little good fat.

So, for example, toss diced watermelon, salted pistachios and slices of avocado into arugula leaves. Dress with a little extra virgin olive oil and a squeeze of lime. Maybe tear in some fresh basil or cilantro.

That in itself could be a great small meal, or pair it with grilled fish for an awesome side. It’s so simple and you need very little in the way of kitchen skills to assemble it. Perfect.

Before I disappear for the crazy bake-off, let me just drop in that Sarah Wight — our amazing Intern at Natural Ltd, self-confessed foodie and lover of all things nutritious — is collaborating with the Chef Shop for two nights of “Summer Superfood with Sarah”.

She’ll be sharing some of her amazing recipes and I’ll be there to help with background information and to answer your nutrition questions.

To find out more, e-mail me and I’ll send you the details, or contact the Chef Shop on Par-la-Ville Road. The events are on July 9 and July 14, 6-8pm. Hope to see you there.

• The advice given in this article is not intended to replace medical advice, but to complement it. Always consult your GP if you have any health concerns. Catherine Burns BA Hons, Dip ION, is the managing director of Natural Ltd and a fully qualified nutritional therapist trained by the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in the UK. Please note that she is not a registered dietitian. For details, please go to www.natural.bm or call 236-7511. Join Catherine on Facebook: www.facebook.com/nutrifitandnaturalnutritionbermuda